Last week I had the pleasure to be part of Global XR Talks special. If you did not see the video you can watch it here. The topic we discussed was “Microsoft Mesh”, so I decided to make an article explaining what is this big news all about.

Microsoft Mesh at Microsoft Ignite’s event.

Microsoft Ignite is one of the biggest and most important tech innovation event, and this year was virtual. The keynote presentations were heavy with talk about Microsoft Mesh, a new Microsoft Azure-based platform for building “cross-platform mixed reality apps”. Alex Kipman appeared on the Ignite virtual stage as a fully realized hologram, and that’s because Mesh allows Microsoft to achieve a complex use-case that the company likes to call “holoportation.”

James Cameron, the filmmaker and ocean explorer, and John Hanke, CEO and founder of leading augmented reality company Niantic, Inc., also joined Kipman remotely to spotlight how Microsoft Mesh is helping them create shared experiences across the virtual and physical worlds.

What is Microsoft Mesh?

Microsoft Mesh is a new platform which allows developers to create Mixed Reality apps that are connected, collaborative and cross-platform. Mesh is capable of allowing people to join a shared environment for conversations or meetings from a different physical location using 3D holograms and sharing these holographic experiences on many kinds of devices using Azure cloud platform.

Microsoft Mesh Crossplatform

Mesh is built on Microsoft Azure, enabling developers to build immersive, multiuser, cross-platform mixed reality apps. It supports a range of devices from the fully immersive head-mounted displays (HMDs) like Microsoft HoloLens, HP Reverb G2, or Oculus Quest 2 for 3-dimensional volumetric experience, to phones and tablets on iOS or Android 

AI-powered capabilities.

The future of market size.

Two years ago, Research and Markets predicted that the global mixed reality market size would reach $2.8 billion by 2023, growing at rate of 77.3% until 2023. A recent report by the UK-based online share researcher BuyShares indicated that growth in the next couple of years will be greater than originally expected. When combined, the global AR, VR and mixed reality (MR) market is expected to continue growing and hit a $124.4. billion value by 2023, a 305% increase in two years.

For more reference on Microsoft Mesh, check out the following links:

• Microsoft Mesh a technical overview
• Video: Microsoft Mesh – Mechanics Session
• Video: Microsoft Mesh – Ignite Session
• Blog: Microsoft Mesh Innovation Story